Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Becker, Bernard Henry
BECKER, Bernard Henry, author and journalist, born in 1833, has for several years past been attached to All the Year Round, and has written a large number of original stories and sketches in that journal. In 1874 he produced "Scientific London"—an account of the rise, progress, and condition of the great scientific institutions of the capital. In an article first published in Iron, and reprinted in "Scientific London," he attacked the management of the Gresham Lectures with such effect as to bring about a reform of the system under which professors are appointed. Mr. Becker published in 1878 a book in two volumes, entitled "Adventurous Lives." Having in the winter of 1878–9 acted as the "Special Commissioner" of the Daily News in Sheffield, Manchester, and other distressed districts of the North and Midlands, he was sent in a similar capacity to Ireland in the autumn of 1880, when he discovered Mr. and Mrs. Boycott herding sheep, and wrote those letters on the state of Connaught and Munster which have since appeared in a collected form as "Disturbed Ireland," and given rise to several discussions in the House of Commons. While differing from Mr. Becker on some minor points, the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, bore testimony to the perfect fairness and general accuracy of his statements. Mr. Becker writes regularly for the Daily News and the World, and contributes art and dramatic criticisms to several other journals.